bog creature

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 12th, 2023

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  • That’s an interesting view, because one way I always looked at it was it became a gating function (in a negative way). Just like the rich raise the barrier to entry, I always thought that there were people who were dismissive of others because you couldn’t speak their language perfectly.

    I think that’s more or less the same idea as language carrying an authority. You can only use language for gating an ivory tower if the plebs believe your expensive terminology describes real and relevant facts. I think an insider language that doesn’t carry this authority gets called other names, slang maybe? Also used for gating, just not as a barrier towards rising towards a higher status position in academia or rich circles.

    English and the internet have this potential of bringing people together, it’s quite powerful. You suddenly find out how your situation relates to people on other continents. I remember that before there was a much stronger feeling of ‘other’ towards people from other countries and cultures, and often the only information you could get about these others would be through the eyes of someone else. To be honest, even if the powers that be fuck up the internet beyond recognition now, that’s a kind of devil difficult to stuff back into the box.


  • Here’s the thing: human translators have been using ‘AI’ for over a decade. It used to be called machine translation, and for anything but the dumbest stuff it’s a dumb idea, first nail in the coffin of translation. Translation agencies loved the shite, of course, because they could now pay a translator 0.05€ per word instead of 0.10€, arguing that now the same work took less time (it did, and also a lower quality translation was produced with a lot of costly bullshit software in the middle). The translators, as is to expect, hated it, but were forced to accept it or starve. We are now very slowly reaching the point where we are hired back as esteemed professionals after AI-caused communication mishaps and business fuckups keep piling up …


  • Language is in a peculiar decline these days - there’s the process of English becoming the most badly spoken and written language ever, because all of us non-natives use it online and often also at work. Together with the inescapable avalanche of slop being churned out.

    Also, language used to carry authority and this is getting lost for more and more people. We have been bombarded with advertising, propaganda, lies for many generations now and it’s becoming stale. Longer texts used to carry more authority, now a topic can be communicated very precisely through a meme, and why not? For a translator I am getting awfully distrustful of words I’m afraid. I believe we are already standing right under the crumbling tower and will have to learn to communicate through shrugs and grunts. And again, why not?




  • schmorp@slrpnk.nettoPrivacy@lemmy.mlVent about bank apps
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    2 months ago

    When talking about fighting capitalism and imperialism i always hear something to the effect of “but, my tasty supermarket snacks”

    FUCK YO MUTHA FUCKIN SUPERMARKET SNACKS!!!

    Like seriously, you lazy fuck head. You can get your fucking snacks from this thing called a garden. Grow some Cucumber and Beans and stop whining, you weakling!

    obviously /s you arrogant wanker




  • And is this an actual thing that is possible to do? It seems relevant to a philosophical issue I’ve been thinking about for a while: every security layer (in computing, but suspect that it goes back further to the first time somebody built a wall of sticks and rocks) adds additional problems or possible break-in points that are then patched with more security layers on top. I’m however not an IT person (call me semi-IT as I translate IT-related documents) and don’t want to jump to conclusions. But from my tech-adjacent viewpoint that’s what it looks like - are we just heaping bullshit on top of more bullshit and creating something too complex to be manageable anymore?



  • Word of encouragement, I’m sure it can be done: my great-uncle got his arm and leg blown off in WWII - he founded a family, worked, went to summer holidays abroad in his camper with the family every year - and he also was a stained glass artist who somehow used his one hand to cut small pieces of glass into exact shapes and solder them together with lead. I only saw his setup once and it’s 24 years ago - so I can’t remember details. I think there were plenty of different types of clamps and a work area with an edge to press things against and keep them from sliding off the table.

    I guess take it as a challenge. If it’s for hobby stuff then congrats: you now have an even more challenging hobby to get obsessed with. I imagine that you could try to find creators of all kinds of crafts and diy stuff who work with challenges similar to yours to get ideas. I’m pretty sure my late great-uncle is cheering you on from the afterlife, you’ve got this!